In order to decrease production time and costs, factories have employed assembly lines, in which workers are assigned specific tasks in the manufacture of a product. In order to comply with ergonomic regulations, decrease medical costs and improve worker satisfaction, many factories now rotate workers to different positions within the assembly line or factory. Assigning workers to particular positions and rotating workers between positions on the assembly line must account for a number of different variables, including, but not limited to, training and experience on particular portions of the assembly line, ergonomic impact of different positions on the assembly line, etc. Each of these variables can include a number of sub-variables. For example, ergonomic impact can include values for the impact to various different body parts.
Typically, assignment and rotation of workers on an assembly line is performed by a supervisor. The supervisor assigns each worker to a different positions over the number of rotations. This typically results in a sub-optimal assignment of workers due to the large number of possible combinations of workers, positions and rotations. For example, in an assembly line with 18 workers, 18 work stations and 4 rotations, there are 6.4×1015 possible combinations. Due to the large number of combinations, and the number of different variables to account for, a supervisor cannot possibly obtain an optimum assignment of workers. Sub-optimal assignments of workers can increase workplace injuries, reduce worker satisfaction and reduce resulting product quality. Accordingly, systems and methods for optimal assignment of workers on an assembly line are desired.